The invention relates to apparatus according to the preamble to claim 1.
In known devices of this kind a piece of dough is placed on a dough carrier plate inside a dough holder ring, whereupon a vertically movable pressure plate so compresses the piece of dough to a constant thickness that it completely fills the dough holder ring. A likewise vertically movable star-shaped cutter then divides the pressed piece of dough into a number of equal-size discrete pieces. The dough carrier plate then receives a horizontally revolving movement so that the discrete pieces of dough are kneaded into round shape in the kneading chambers formed by the knife and the dough holder ring. On completion of this operation all the parts which have been lowered from above are lifted from the dough carrier plate and the kneaded discrete pieces of dough resting thereon are manually fed on for further processing.
This construction was hitherto an obstacle to incorporating a device of this kind in an automatically and continuously operating plant, since the kneaded discrete pieces of dough have to be taken away from the dough carrier plate and introduced into other conveying or processing means. This not only requires a complex handling operation but also a departure from the optimum time required for the dough processing, so that quality can be reduced.